takes the aerial route to finish it off. Full and outside off, frees his arms and clears the long-on boundary. Shovels it from outside off and with the fielders inside the circle to prevent the single it was a chance he could liberally take. Makes clean contact and the ball sails a long way over the boundary
Ireland vs Afghanistan, 1st T20I at Greater Noida, Mar 08 2017 - Ball by Ball Commentary
RESULT
1st T20I, Greater Noida, March 08, 2017, Afghanistan tour of India
Prev
Next165/5
(18/20 ov, T:166) 171/4
Afghanistan won by 6 wickets (with 12 balls remaining)
New
AFG
Full commentary
end of over 189 runs • 1 wicket
AFG: 171/4CRR: 9.50
Shafiqullah6 (1b 1x6)
Asghar Afghan20 (13b 2x4 1x6)
Craig Young 3-0-30-1
Stuart Thompson 3-0-17-1
Clinical performance from Afghanistan. They played at their adopted home ground, and played like the home team, being cheered amply from onlookers and thoroughly outplaying the opposition. They go 1-0 up in the three-match series. Ireland have issues to sort out, especially with the ball. Their batting was pretty decent, although they did not get as many runs on the board as they would have liked. But it was still, by far, the better suit today. Can they bounce back from this big defeat or will Afghanistan seal the series on Friday? Join us then to find out. Cheers!
Asghar Stanikzai - On this kind of wicket, it does not matter if we bat first or bowl first. The outfield here is very fast. We always believed the target was chaseable. It is always important to start the series well, and I am happy that we were able to win.
William Porterfield - It was a case of runs not on the board. We did not bowl too well either. 180 is what we were trying, we could have got there comfortably given the start we had, but unfortunately, we could not do so.
Shenwari - The captain and coach told me to play my natural game, which I did and I am happy for having done it. We have played some cricket recently, so all the guys have been busy coming into this series.
Samiullah Shenwari is the Man of the Match for his half-century.
5.06pm That was a no-contest. Ireland have been thoroughly outplayed, with bat and ball. Ireland made a superb start as Afghanistan's bowlers sprayed it too full or too short and offered width on both lengths. Their spinners then came and stifled Ireland, but they were able to put up a decent score nonetheless. It was always going to be hard work to defend 165 given the firepower at the top that Afghanistan possess. But bowling remains a major worry for Ireland as they bowled poor lines and lengths and were ruthlessly punished by Afghanistan's batsmen who power-hit their way to take a 1-0 lead. Presentation time.
Ahmad Khalid Qu: "I am desperately waiting to see Afghanistan receive full membership. A wish that will come true very soon."
Mohib.H: "Well done Afghanistan, you truly deserve to take on the BIG boys now...."
Mohib.H: "Hope to see Afghanistan as the 12th headache for the BIG boys in the nearest future. "
17.6
6
Young to Shafiq, SIX runs
17.5
W
Young to M Nabi, OUT
oh, gone! Got to ask, was that really necessary? Full and outside off and Nabi drills it hard through midwicket. Cannot keep it along the ground and sends it straight into the hands of the midwicket fielder
Mohammad Nabi c Dockrell b Young 1 (2b 0x4 0x6 6m) SR: 50
17.4
1
Young to Asghar, 1 run
fullish length outside off, eases it down to long-on for a single. Scores level
17.3
1
Young to M Nabi, 1 run
short of good length, swivels around and pulls it to deep square leg. Just two needed now
17.2
1
Young to Asghar, 1 run
short and no pace again. This time he anticipates well and hangs in the backfoot, waits for it before pulling but cannot beat the deep backward square leg fielder
17.1
•
Young to Asghar, no run
short of a length, no pace at all, tries to pull and goes through with the shot too early
Laiqkhan Rafeh: "Well played boys, a step closer to full membership, keep it up"
end of over 173 runs • 1 wicket
AFG: 162/3CRR: 9.52 • RRR: 1.33
Asghar Afghan18 (10b 2x4 1x6)
Mohammad Nabi0 (0b)
Stuart Thompson 3-0-17-1
Kevin O'Brien 4-0-52-1
16.6
1
Thompson to Asghar, 1 run
good length outside off, drops it in front of covers off the front foot and they take a quick single
16.5
•
Thompson to Asghar, no run
full and outside off, tries to squeeze it out through the off side and cannot make contact
Mujeeb : "@Suga: In that case, Afghanistan should get full membership because currently, they are too good among the Associates.....The same goes for Ireland ..... !"
16.4
W
Thompson to Samiullah Shinwari, OUT
superb catch at long-on. They go upstairs to check if he has taken that fine, but does not seem like there's any problem. It was full and the batsman was using the inward angle and lofting it. It's the long part of the boundary there and the ball nearly carries but not over the fielder there. He moves to his right, takes it reverse-cupped and is arching back. The angle and momentum takes him over the ropes, so he flicks it in the air, crosses the boundary and steps back in to take it again. It's a pretty clean effort, no part of the foot was on the ropes
Samiullah Shinwari c Dockrell b Thompson 56 (36b 6x4 3x6 65m) SR: 155.55
Shan: "Just to get a perspective... the next best run getter from an associate team is Porterfield, who played almost the same number of matches but is almost 750 runs lesser than Shehzad... That's 77% more than the next best associate player..."
16.3
•
Thompson to Samiullah Shinwari, no run
fuller ball outside off, defended off the front foot into the off-side and the bowler runs to his left to cut it off
16.2
1
Thompson to Asghar, 1 run
comes down the track and ends up nearly yorking himself, the ball goes off the inside part of the blade to the square leg region
16.1
1lb
Thompson to Samiullah Shinwari, 1 leg bye
angled down leg, misses the flick and the ball goes off the pad to the left of the diving wicketkeeper and towards fine leg
Suga: "I think ICC should prevent Afghanistan from playing with associate nations, considering their consistent win over them."
end of over 1627 runs
AFG: 159/2CRR: 9.93 • RRR: 1.75
Asghar Afghan16 (7b 2x4 1x6)
Samiullah Shinwari56 (33b 6x4 3x6)
Kevin O'Brien 4-0-52-1
George Dockrell 4-0-35-0
15.6
4
K O'Brien to Asghar, FOUR runs
Kevin O'Brien's struggle in this over ends with another boundary. Too full and lofted straight down the ground. One-bounce over the straight boundary
15.6
1w
K O'Brien to Asghar, 1 wide
and another wide. Sprays it too wide outside off and the batsman chases it. Goes so wide that he almost loses balance as he reaches out for it. The ball misses the flashing blade and the wicketkeeper appeals for a catch as he takes it. Not given
15.5
4
K O'Brien to Asghar, FOUR runs
whatever Afghanistan are doing now are working in their favour. Short of a length and outside off. Not much room and does not sit up as well as he would have liked. Gets a top edge on the attempted pull and the ball goes on the bounce over third man
15.4
1
K O'Brien to Samiullah Shinwari, 1 run
full and angling away, comes forward and drives off the front foot to extra cover
15.4
1w
K O'Brien to Samiullah Shinwari, 1 wide
sprayed down leg again and the keeper collects it this time
15.4
5w
K O'Brien to Samiullah Shinwari, 5 wide
sprayed down the leg side. Ireland getting it all horribly wrong here. The batsman misses the glance and the keeper misses the ball as well as the wicketkeeper dived to his left and the ball goes to the fine leg boundary
15.3
4
K O'Brien to Samiullah Shinwari, FOUR runs
full and on leg stump, picked up off the pads and drilled hard between long-on and deep midwicket. This one's getting over in a hurry
15.2
1lb
K O'Brien to Asghar, 1 leg bye
slower short ball, tries to pull it away and does not time it as the ball goes to fine leg
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